


Lover’s Suicide

by sunwoo



Category: The Boyz (Korea Band)
Genre: M/M, trigger warning: suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2020-01-04 09:05:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18340517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunwoo/pseuds/sunwoo
Summary: It was well known by the ice-borns and fire-borns alike that an ice-born can only be in physical contact with fire itself or a fire-born for ten seconds, and a fire-born can only be in physical contact with ice itself or an ice-born for ten seconds. After ten seconds, they die.





	Lover’s Suicide

“Hyung,” Sunwoo dragged out the word. “I’m tired.”

Sangyeon looked up at the younger boy, who was now sitting on the ground. Sangyeon wiped off sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. “And you think I’m not?”

“But my hands hurt,” Sunwoo whined again. He put his hands out in front of him to show Sangyeon the blisters on them.

Sangyeon looked at the hands, looked at Sunwoo’s face, then went back to chopping wood. “Sunwoo, we have to get all of this wood chopped up and sent to the workshop by eight or else we’re not getting payed. There’s no time to complain.”

Sunwoo felt bad when he complained, but he couldn’t help it. He hated doing this work. He hated having to wake up early, having to spend several hours picking out trees to cut down, having to cut down the trees, having to chop them into smaller logs, having to carry them into wagons, having to drag the wagons by foot all the way to the workshop everyday all for a measly handful of coins a day, but it was all he could do to get money.

In a world where the teenagers and young adults are the only ones to work—law states that once one reaches the age of 25, one must stop working—it’s hard.

Sunwoo was an only child. It was rare to be an only child; most parents had kid after kid so when one of their kids got too old to work, they’d still have other kids bringing in money.

Sunwoo wished he had siblings. He didn’t care what gender they were or how annoying they were or anything like that. He just wanted someone to help him so he wouldn’t feel the pressure of being the only employed person in his family.

That’s why Sunwoo liked Sangyeon. Sangyeon was like his older brother, but like any older brother, he’d soon grow too old to work and leave Sunwoo by himself.

“I should’ve just been born over there—in the ice world. I bet they don’t have to chop up wood nonstop,” Sunwoo said, sighing. He grabbed his axe again and was about to get back to work when the sound of Sangyeon dropping his own axe startled him.

“Don’t joke around like that. Ice-borns are horrible people. You don’t want to be one of them,” Sangyeon said sternly. “And what do you mean ‘nonstop?’ You keep on stopping every five minutes to complain.”

“You know what I meant,” Sunwoo said, and he couldn’t help but think about what it would be like to be in the ice world. He’s never even been close enough to it to feel the cold—whatever that was.

There was a forest that was right in between the fire world and the ice world. It’s where Sunwoo and Sangyeon got all their wood, but they never dared go deep enough into the forest. At least, Sangyeon never did.

“Sunwoo, can you go up near the stream and go get the extra supplies there? I trust you with this, but please don’t go past the river,” Sangyeon ordered him, and Sunwoo nodded. “Come back as quickly as possible, Sunwoo. No horsing around. If I’m not here when you get back, I’m on my way to the workshop.”

Sunwoo grabbed his backpack of supplies and headed into the woods. He had plenty of time to go on an adventure before it was time to head back.

When he got to the river, he saw the wagon full of supplies that Sangyeon told him to bring back. His mind told him to just hurry up and bring it back so Sangyeon wouldn’t be mad at how long he took, but something in his heart told him to cross the small stream of water, closer to the ice world than he’s ever been before.

He carefully stepped over the stream and expected to feel different, but to his disappointment, he felt the same as he had before he stepped over.

“Nothing’s different. I don’t know why Sangyeon hyung didn’t really want me to come over here,” Sunwoo said to himself. He began walking farther and farther away from the stream, and just when he was about to turn around and head back to Sangyeon with the wagon, he heard something—someone.

Sunwoo stopped in his tracks to listen. He heard someone crying.

He squinted really hard and was able to make out a figure who was sitting against a tree a couple yards away. Sunwoo slowly walked over, and he soon realized it was a boy around his age who was crying.

Sunwoo cleared his throat. “Hey, um, are you okay?” he asked, putting his hand on the boy’s bare arm.

He felt the sharpest, most excruciating pain he had ever felt before.

“Fuck!” Sunwoo shouted, immediately taking his hand off. The other boy fell over, touching his arm and wincing in pain as he did.

“What the hell? What was that? What did you do? Wait, who are you?” The boy asked.

“That’s a lot of questions,” Sunwoo said, expecting for the boy to laugh but had no luck. He instead looked scared and still held his arm. “I… I don’t know what that was. I don’t know what I did. I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to… do… whatever that was. Oh, and my name’s Sunwoo. I live by the apple orchard. Why haven’t I seen you before?” 

“But we don’t grow apples here. Just bananas. Apples are native to—” the boy abruptly stopped, and his eyes widened in fear. “Y-you’re one of them!”

Sunwoo watched in confusion as the boy quickly got to his feet and took a few steps back.

“One of who?” Sunwoo asked.

“You live over there?” The boy asked, pointing behind Sunwoo.

Sunwoo turned around and realized he was talking about the fire world. “Oh, you’re an ice-born?”

The boy nodded. “Aren’t you scared of me? Because I’m scared of you.”

Sunwoo shook his head. “No. Sangyeon hyung told me ice-borns are horrible people, but you don’t seem like a horrible person,” he smiled, “which reminds me… why were you crying earlier? And what’s your name? You already know mine.” 

“Oh” was all the boy said, and silence followed for several seconds afterwards. “I’m Haknyeon, and I was crying because of,” he looked at Sunwoo and then diverted his eyes to the ground quickly, “things. You know, we shouldn’t even be talking. It’s wrong.”

“Why?”

Haknyeon shrugged his shoulders and turned to look at where Sunwoo assumed the ice world was. “Because you’re a fire-born, and I’m an ice-born. It’s as simple as that. It’s dangerous, too. We could’ve died when you touched me.”

“Is that what it was?” Sunwoo asked and stepped closer to Haknyeon. “It felt…”

“Different,” Haknyeon finished for him.

“Yeah, different. Can… can I do it again? Only for a second?” Sunwoo asked, and Haknyeon was shocked at his question. 

“I-I don’t know. It kind of hurt the first time,” he said.

“Maybe it was because we were caught off guard. Maybe this time it won’t hurt because we know it’s going to happen,” Sunwoo told Haknyeon, and Haknyeon thought for a moment. 

“Okay, but only for a second,” Haknyeon put his arm out, and Sunwoo reached over with his hand and touched him with a single finger carefully. 

He felt the same sharp, excruciating pain he had felt moments earlier.

Sunwoo hissed, and Haknyeon pulled his arm back, rubbing that same spot in pain. 

“Sorry. I guess I was wrong,” Sunwoo apologized.

“It’s okay, Sunwoo. It was really different than anything else I’ve felt before. It was… like… I don’t know how to describe it.” 

“Me neither,” Sunwoo replied. “I’m really sorry for hurting you. Twice.”

“I said it was okay,” Haknyeon giggled. “Why are you here anyways? Fire-borns aren’t allowed on our side.”

“Sangyeon hyung told me to come get some supplies for him. We need them to cut down more trees, and I kind of got curious about what was over here, and then I found you,” Sunwoo explained, and Haknyeon frowned.

“You cut down trees? But they’re so pretty,” Haknyeon said sadly.

“I’ve never thought of trees like that before. It’s just that Sangyeon hyung and I work for this guy at the workshop. We bring him wood, and he pays us,” Sunwoo said. He intentionally left out the part about hating his job.

“Really? But trees are so wonderful. Like when the ice gets frozen onto the branches, and it makes little icicles! And you can climb them to get to the very top, and you can see all the snow and everyone playing in it, and maybe if you’re lucky, you’ll see a lonely leaf in a tree that hasn’t fallen down yet. But there was this one time that I didn’t step on the branch right, and I fell onto the ice.” Haknyeon seemed so happy to talk about trees and the great things about them.

“I’ve never seen ice before,” Sunwoo said, shyly. “Or snow. What are they?”

Haknyeon gasped and grabbed Sunwoo by his shirt sleeve, already dragging him the direction of the ice world. “You have to go see it! I made a snowman right before I came in here, and it might still be there unless someone destroyed it by now.”

Sunwoo stopped in his tracks, and Haknyeon almost tripped as he continued to hold onto Sunwoo’s shirt while walking. “Why’d you stop, Sunwoo?” 

“I can’t go over there. You said it yourself,” Sunwoo said.

“Oh, yeah. You’re right,” Haknyeon said sadly, but then, he had an idea that made his entire face light up. “Maybe I can bring you some snow! You’ll love it! Want to meet up here again tomorrow at the same time?” 

Sunwoo smiled brightly at the idea. “Yeah! I better go before Sangyeon hyung gets mad at me for taking so long.”

“Okay, bye, Sunwoo!” Haknyeon waved at his new friend with a smile and headed back home.

After a couple minutes, Haknyeon was greeted with the light snow falling from the sky and the laughter of many children playing all around him. Haknyeon loved seeing the children so happy.

There were just so many things there to bring anyone happiness, and no one ever seemed to get tired of any of it. Haknyeon spent a lot of time thinking about that—why no one ever got tired of building snowmen, making snow angels, playing snowball fights, building snow forts—but he just didn’t understand.

He didn’t have any kind of work to do. He didn’t have to help the community in any way, and he often wondered what it would be like in the fire world, too.

Despite that, he always dismissed the thought of going to the fire world; it was wrong and absolutely forbidden. He had all he needed where he was now, but he couldn’t help to feel like there was something more out there for him, other than sitting around and enjoying the snow.

“Hyunjoon!” Haknyeon shouted once he got to his friend’s house. He was thinking about how excited Sunwoo would be the next day that he had had a smile on his face the entire walk. 

Hyunjoon appeared from somewhere behind the house and walked towards Haknyeon, who was still smiling.

“Hyunjoon, I just met someone in the forest, and he’s so amazing,” Haknyeon said with so much happiness in his voice.

“Whoa, really? Is that where you were?” Hyunjoon asked, and Haknyeon nodded. “What’s his name? Do I know him?”

“His name is Sunwoo, and he’s—” Haknyeon stopped himself. He couldn’t tell anyone he had met a fire-born. “He doesn’t live very close to us. I don’t think you know him, but I think he’s your age.”

“Is he cute?” Hyunjoon asked.

Haknyeon suddenly got very embarrassed and didn’t know how to answer Hyunjoon’s question. “Well, I mean… he is, but we just met.”

“Okay,” Hyunjoon smiled. “You should introduce me to him sometime, hyung.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Haknyeon said when he knew that that would never be possible. “Oh, and do you want to go meet up with Juyeon hyung? He wanted to know if we could go watch his sister ice skate today.”

“Totally. That girl’s incredible at ice skating. I definitely wouldn’t want to miss it,” Hyunjoon said, and Haknyeon began walking in the direction of the same ice rink they always went to.

In the world a stream of water in the forest away, Sunwoo was running.

He should’ve been back a long time ago (but he got distracted when he saw a bird hopping on the grass that he followed it for a while), and Sangyeon was definitely going to be mad at him. At least he had the supplies Sangyeon wanted.

Thankfully, Sangyeon wasn’t gone yet. He was almost done, and Sunwoo felt bad for making Sangyeon do all the work while he was having a nice time in the forest. 

“Sangyeon hyung! Sangyeon hyung! I just met the most wonderful boy!” Sunwoo said, finally standing up right after having bent his back the entire time. “Hyung!”

“What took you so long? When I told you that if I wasn’t here when you came back, I’d be at the workshop, I wasn’t completely serious. I told you not to horse around,” Sangyeon said. He then looked up to see the smile on Sunwoo’s face. “Why are you smiling?” 

“I met a boy in the forest, and he’s the absolute best,” Sunwoo said. He stepped to the side for Sangyeon to see the wagon he brought, which made Sangyeon let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank goodness! These will be so useful tomorrow!” Sangyeon exclaimed. “All that matters is that we have these now, and that you’re okay. You didn’t cross the river, right?” 

Sunwoo didn’t like lying.

“Yeah, I didn’t.” 

But everyone has to do things they don’t like sometimes.

“Good. Ice-borns are seriously terrible, horrible people. We’d really better hope we never meet one. Ever.”

“Right,” Sunwoo said, giving Sangyeon a forced smile.

“Come on. Let’s get this to the workshop now.”

The next day was full of the same old work Sunwoo had to do everyday, but this time, it was like a clock was ticking in his head, just waiting for the right moment to make an excuse to go back into the forest to meet Haknyeon.

The guilt Sunwoo felt yesterday for making Sangyeon do so much work hadn’t left the poor boy alone, so he worked twice as hard on this particular day; thankfully, that meant they finished their work a bit earlier than usual.

“We finished half an hour early. That’s a surprise,” Sangyeon said. “What do you say, we take a break for a bit, and then come back to take this?”

Sunwoo almost let out a sigh of relief; he had been thinking for almost an hour about what excuse to make up. “Yeah! I’ll be here on time this time. Don’t worry about me.”

“You better be here on time, Sunwoo,” Sangyeon told the younger boy, and Sunwoo went into the forest.

After crossing the stream, every step he took made him shiver more and more. He wasn’t sure what this feeling was though. It felt like touching Haknyeon. Whatever that feeling was, that’s what he was sure he was feeling, and it only kept getting stronger, but his mind dropped the topic as soon as he saw Haknyeon sitting by the same tree from the day before with a small wagon next to him.

“Sunwoo, you made it!” Haknyeon said, standing up. “I brought you snow!”

Sunwoo looked at the wagon. “Whoa! It’s like…” He began to shiver again as he got closer to it. “I don’t even know how to describe it. What is it?”

“It’s frozen water! It’s not like ice though. Snow is more special. I wish you could touch it,” Haknyeon said, and Sunwoo looked at him.

“Will something happen if I touch it?”

“I-I don’t know, but we got hurt yesterday, so this might hurt you, too. I wouldn’t risk it if I were you.” Haknyeon looked back at Sunwoo and noticed that he was shaking. “Oh, God, are you okay? You look like you’re freezing!”

“Freezing? What’s that?” Sunwoo asked, pulling his arms closer to his stomach for warmth.

“I think the snow’s hurting you…” Haknyeon said, and he pushed the wagon away. Sunwoo began to feel better.

“How would it hurt me? I wasn’t even touching it,” Sunwoo said, feeling upset. It was bad enough that he couldn’t touch the snow.

“I wish I knew,” Haknyeon said. “I’m sorry. It’s not fair that you’re getting hurt, and I’m not.”

“No, don’t apologize. I like experiencing new things,” Sunwoo said, smiling. He paused for a moment before adding, “with you.”

Haknyeon looked at Sunwoo with an expression that Sunwoo couldn’t read, and it started to make him nervous. He thought that maybe he shouldn’t have been so straightforward with Haknyeon.

Haknyeon tilted his head to the side slightly. “I like experiencing new things with you, too.”

“I want to kiss you.” 

Haknyeon leaned in to sit a little bit closer to Sunwoo without noticing. “I… I kind of want to kiss you, too.”

Sunwoo leaned in without any thoughts in his head except Haknyeon and how much he liked him although they barely knew each other.

They were closer than they had ever been before, and Haknyeon started to feel what he felt when Sunwoo touched him. 

“What… what is this?” He asked, leaning back to where he was sitting previously (which made Sunwoo very very sad as he was ready to kiss him right then and there) and wiped his forehead. “Is my forehead crying?”

Sunwoo laughed. “That’s sweat, silly.”

“Sweat,” Haknyeon said as if trying out the new word. “I’ve never had it before.”

“I sweat all the time like when I work really hard and when I exercise really hard, too,” Sunwoo explained. It was kind of difficult to explain it to Haknyeon.

“That sounds awesome!” Haknyeon smiled. “I’d love to go to the fire world one day and experience and see all these things.” 

There was a pause.

“With you, Sunwoo.”

Sunwoo felt something in his heart, and he wasn’t quite sure what it was. His arm began shaking a little again, hopefully not noticeable by Haknyeon.

“But there’s nothing special about the fire world. I can’t even bring you anything,” Sunwoo said sadly.

Haknyeon frowned. “Are you kidding? I bet it’s an amazing place. Plus, you’re the only thing I need from there. You’re special enough, Sunwoo.” 

“I’m special to you?”

“Of course you are. I wouldn’t have come to see you if you weren’t,” Haknyeon responded, and Sunwoo was speechless.

No one said anything for a while, both of them enjoying each other’s company while it lasted, and that’s how the next few months went by. Sunwoo would make an excuse for Sangyeon to let him go into the forest, Haknyeon would avoid Hyunjoon for a couple hours to go into the forest, and they’d be in the forest together, falling more and more in love with every meeting.

One day, Sunwoo had remembered his and Haknyeon’s first meeting together. He wasn’t sure if Haknyeon would be okay with him bringing up the time he cried when they met, but his curiosity was too strong to let the thought go.

“Hyung, you never told me why you were crying when I first saw you,” Sunwoo suddenly said.

“Oh,” Haknyeon said. “It’s a little embarrassing…”

“You can tell me. You trust me, right?” Sunwoo asked, and he wanted to hold Haknyeon’s hand as he did, but he knew what would happen way too well.

“Everything is always so… happy at home,” Haknyeon started. “Like nothing in life matters to anyone. All anyone does is have fun, and as great as that is, I want to have a purpose, and I guess that at that time, it just felt like I would’ve be able to have a purpose in life.”

Sunwoo felt bad for Haknyeon as he told him his story. “Hyung, if it makes you feel any better… you’re my purpose.”

Haknyeon looked over at Sunwoo, his eyes trailing over Sunwoo’s lips.

“I would kiss you right now, you know,” Haknyeon said. 

“I’d kiss you back,” Sunwoo responded, and it brought a smile to both of their faces.

“My friend Hyunjoon told me I was an idiot for not having kissed you yet. We’ve been seeing each other for months. He says I should’ve kissed you by now,” Haknyeon said, and Sunwoo grinned.

“You tell your friends about me?” 

Haknyeon nodded happily. “Hyunjoon and Juyeon hyung know all about you. Well, except that you’re a fire-born.”

“I haven’t told Sangyeon hyung yet because I think he’ll put two and two together and realize I always go into the forest to see you,” Sunwoo explained. “I’ll tell him today, though. I’ll tell him about everything and how happy you make me, too! I promise.”

And Sunwoo was beginning to regret making that promise when he saw Sangyeon again that late afternoon.

“Ready to get this work done?” Sangyeon asked. He leaned against his axe as he looked up at Sunwoo from his sitting position. 

“Yep,” Sunwoo said, and he started working again. “Oh, hyung, I have something to ask you.”

“Okay,” Sangyeon responded.

Sunwoo cleared his throat out of fear. “Why do you hate ice-borns so much? You’re the only person around here who constantly talks so badly about them.”

Sangyeon dropped the log he was holding into a wagon with a loud thump. “Can you keep a secret?” 

“I don’t have any friends around here. I don’t know who you’d think I’d tell your secrets to,” Sunwoo said, and Sangyeon looked over at him with a glare. “That was a yes, hyung.” 

“When I was younger, maybe around your age, the hatred between fire-borns and ice-borns wasn’t so big. The forest didn’t have so many trees then, so some of us could cross over easily instead of by the river all the way over there—” Sangyeon pointed to some spot past many large buildings. “—and the river’s a bit smaller now, the one that runs through the forest, or at least I think it still does. Anyways, there was a guy—” Sangyeon paused to look at Sunwoo, making sure he was paying attention. “—his name was Jacob, and he was an ice-born. I loved him. Sometimes I think that I still haven’t moved on even though it’s been years since he left me. We were always together, through the good and the bad, but one day, he told me he didn’t love me anymore. He left, and I was… heartbroken. I never saw him again after that because a year later, stricter laws were placed, and it became harder for ice-borns to see fire-borns and vice versa. I’m sure you remember that law. Not that I think I would’ve seen him even if they never passed it. He made it clear he had no intention of seeing me again.”

“Hyung… that’s…” Sunwoo struggled to find the right words. “I’m really sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s hard to move on, but that’s just what happens when you love someone. Sometimes I even wonder how different things would be if Jacob and I were still together. Maybe you could’ve met him. You guys would’ve been great friends.”

Sunwoo sadly nodded, and Sangyeon continued. 

“Love makes you do crazy things somethings, and Sunwoo?” Sangyeon asked, and Sunwoo raised an eyebrow. “Promise me you won’t do anything crazy when you’re in love. Do what you think is right.” 

Sunwoo thought about Sangyeon’s words for a moment before nodding again. “I promise, hyung.”

Sunwoo continued to think long and hard about those words even when they went home and when they went to work the next day. “Do what you think is right,” Sangyeon had said, and Sunwoo wanted to do something, but he wasn’t sure if it was right. 

In the ice world, Hyunjoon shouted across the street. “Haknyeon hyung! Come here!”

Haknyeon smiled at his friend and walked over to him with his hands in his pockets as the light snow fell around them. “What’s up?” 

“That boy you like… who is he? Ever since you told me about him, I’ve been looking around for a guy named Sunwoo, and I haven’t found anyone. Did you make him up?” Hyunjoon asked.

Haknyeon stumbled backwards a bit out of shock. “You think I’d make up a crush?”

“Maybe. I mean, hyung, I don’t know! You’d tell me everything, right?” 

“Yeah,” Haknyeon replied. His heart felt heavy, knowing that he wasn’t telling his best friend one specific detail about Sunwoo. “I would, Hyunjoon. I didn’t make him up.” 

“Prove it.”

Haknyeon gave Hyunjoon a confused look. “Prove it?”

“Prove it today. After you go do whatever you do in the forest everyday, I want you to bring Sunwoo here—well, not here in this spot exactly… bring him to me, and then I’ll believe you, but don’t bring some random guy who isn’t Sunwoo because I know practically everyone here, and I’d know you’re lying, hyung.”

“Hyunjoon…”

“What? Scared?” Hyunjoon grinned at Haknyeon, and Haknyeon rolled his eyes.

“Okay, but just know that if he—” Haknyeon started but cut himself off. 

“If he what?” 

“Nothing. End of conversation, Hyunjoon. I’ll bring him, okay? I’ll see you later,” Haknyeon said, already walking quickly into the forest to tell Sunwoo the news.

“Okay, hyung, but I better be seeing Sunwoo later, too!” 

Haknyeon let out a sigh as he kicked small rocks in the forest. Not only would Hyunjoon definitely tell everyone he’s been seeing a fire-born, but Sunwoo would surely not make it very long in the ice world, considering how he felt when near the snow.

“Hyung! I have something to tell you!” Sunwoo yelled once he could see Haknyeon. He seemed scared.

Haknyeon was scared, too. “I have something to tell you, too.” 

“You go first, hyung,” Sunwoo said, and Haknyeon nodded as he sat down near him, not too close but not too far away either.

“My friend Hyunjoon said he’s been trying to find someone named Sunwoo because I told him about you, but he couldn’t anyone with that name, so he said he thinks I made you up. I told him I didn’t make you up, and he said I have to bring you to him today or else he’ll continue to believe I made you up, and I agreed to it.”

“Hyung, what will your friend do if he finds out I’m a—”

“I don’t know, Sunwoo. He’s my best friend, but he’s definitely the type to tell everyone about you being a fire-born, and I don’t even know what people will say about me…” Haknyeon said, and he placed his head in his hands. 

Sunwoo wanted to hold Haknyeon and comfort him. “Yesterday, Sangyeon hyung told me that he used to have a boyfriend who was an ice-born, and his boyfriend left him, and Sangyeon hyung was so heartbroken that he’s hated ice-borns ever since. Then, he made me promise to never do crazy things when I’m in love. I promised him I wouldn’t, and he told me to do what was right.” Sunwoo paused to look at Haknyeon, who was still in the same position as before. “Hyung… I don’t know what love is exactly or how to know if you love someone, but I think I… hyung, I think I love you.”

Haknyeon looked up at this and stared at the younger boy, who was shaking more with every second in Haknyeon’s company.

“Sunwoo… you love me?”

“Yes, so I want to tell you something else… I can’t live like this. I can’t just secretly see you everyday and hide you from everyone I know. I can’t just watch as everyone dates and gets married and all that, and as much as I love seeing you everyday, I can’t keep doing this. Hyung, I love you, and I really thought hard about this, and I understand if you don’t want to do this with me, but… I’d rather not live at all than live with this secret, and I’m sure you feel the same.” 

Haknyeon gasped at Sunwoo’s last statement. “Sunwoo, are you asking me to… with you…”

“You don’t have to, but I’m—”

“I’ll do it. With you, Sunwoo,” Haknyeon said. “Right now.”

“R-right now?” Sunwoo asked nervously even though he was the one who had suggested the idea in the first place. “Hyung, maybe we should spend some time together first before…” 

“Okay,” Haknyeon nodded. “Is there anything you want to do before…”

“I have to tell Sangyeon hyung about you. I don’t want to die with that burden,” Sunwoo said. He looked off into the distance, and Haknyeon stood up.

“Let’s go now. Then, we’ll meet Hyunjoon, and then it’ll all be over, right?” Haknyeon asked as he and Sunwoo began walking in the direction of the fire world.

“Right. We’ll be at peace, I think. Plus, we’ll be together. Maybe we’ll meet again in another life, hyung.” At this, Sunwoo felt his eyes teared up, but he decided to not show how scared he was to Haknyeon. “Maybe in that life we’ll be able to be together freely without any worries.” 

“Sunwoo,” Haknyeon said once they were almost at the end of the forest. “It hurts…” He rubbed his arm and then the other, frowning at the feeling.

“Oh, I completely forgot that you can’t come here,” Sunwoo said. “Wait here, and I’ll make Sangyeon hyung come here, okay?”

Haknyeon nodded, and Sunwoo jogged into the fire world. As soon as he saw Sangyeon, he paused to catch his breath. “Hyung, you have to come in the forest with me. Right now.” 

Sangyeon looked at him in confusion. “Why are you back so early?” 

“Come with me, please, hyung,” Sunwoo begged, and Sangyeon sighed. 

“Fine, but make it quick. There’s a lot of work to do,” Sangyeon said, and Sunwoo grabbed his arm and led him to where he had left Haknyeon.

“Hyung, I need you to not get mad at me…” Sunwoo said once they reached Haknyeon.

“Who—”

“Hyung, this is my… my, uh,” Sunwoo looked at Haknyeon, who gave him a small smile. “My lover. And Haknyeon hyung is an ice-born.”

At that moment, Sangyeon was filled with rage. 

“Sunwoo, who the hell do you think you are? Running around the fucking place everyday as I do all the work, only for you to see some… some ice-born? Sunwoo, I told you to not do crazy things. Why do you never listen to me? Sunwoo, you need to think about this and do the right thing and—”

“I did think about this, hyung, and that’s why I’m sorry for what I’m about to do,” Sunwoo interrupted. He then looked at Haknyeon, nodded in the opposite direction, and ran off farther into the forest with him, leaving a poor and confused Sangyeon alone.

“Sunwoo,” Haknyeon started. “Are you okay?” 

“Yes,” Sunwoo replied, although the tears in his eyes didn’t help. The two stopped after several minutes of running. “I’ll… I’ll stay here.” 

Haknyeon didn’t want to leave Sunwoo alone while he was upset, but he went against his wishes and ran into the ice world.

“Hyunjoon! Hyunjoon!” Haknyeon looked up and down the street in search of his friend, but he had no luck. 

“Haknyeon?” A voice asked from nearby, causing for Haknyeon to look over. 

“Juyeon hyung, have you see Hyunjoon?” Haknyeon asked, and Juyeon nodded.

“He’s on a date with Jaehyun. He left a while ago. They didn’t go far though. I think they went that way, maybe into the city.” Juyeon pointed farther down the street, and Haknyeon thanked him before running in that direction.

It didn’t take long before Haknyeon found Hyunjoon and his date, the two of them holding hands as they walked slowly along the sidewalk, and Haknyeon almost felt bad disrupting them before he remembered he left Sunwoo alone. Haknyeon also wished he could go on dates like this with Sunwoo, but it was impossible. Haknyeon knew he would never be able to be happy the way Hyunjoon and Jaehyun were.

“Hyunjoon! I hate to break this up, but I need you to come with me.” Haknyeon pulled on Hyunjoon’s jacket. “We’re meeting Sunwoo.” 

“Who’s Sunwoo?” Jaehyun asked. 

Hyunjoon laughed. “Haknyeon hyung’s imaginary boyfriend.” Haknyeon glared at him. “See you later, hyung?”

Jaehyun nodded, and Haknyeon began to run again, but with Hyunjoon this time. 

Hyunjoon struggled to keep up with the older boy. “Why are we running?” He asked, clearly out of breath. 

“Because he’s in the forest. He can’t come here. We have to go to him. I’ll explain it to you in a minute,” Haknyeon said, looking at all the people around them and thinking about how differently they would look at him if they found out he was seeing a fire born.

“Your boyfriend is really weird, hyung,” Hyunjoon said. Haknyeon rolled his eyes at this. 

Once in the forest, Haknyeon yelled for Sunwoo, finding him sitting against a tree.

“Hyunjoon, don’t get too close,” Haknyeon told his friend.

Hyunjoon rolled his eyes playfully. “Relax, I won’t bite him.” Sunwoo stood up, and Hyunjoon watched him. He then leaned over to Haknyeon, and whispered, “hyung, your boyfriend is really good looking.” 

Haknyeon ignored Hyunjoon’s last statement and stood closer to Sunwoo, similarly to how Sunwoo had done when meeting with Sangyeon.

“Hyunjoon. Sunwoo is a fire born.”

Hyunjoon didn’t say anything.

“And I want to be with him, but I can’t, so I’ve decided to… to die with him. This is… a goodbye, I guess. Thanks for everything, Hyunjoon. Oh, and good luck with Jaehyun. He’s definitely a keeper,” Haknyeon said, and his friend stood there silently as if he didn’t know what to say.

“Don’t be sad when I’m gone, okay?” Haknyeon asked. He stepped forward to place his hand on Hyunjoon’s shoulder. “This is what I want.” 

“Hyung…” Sunwoo said from behind them. “My head hurts.”

“Sunwoo—” Haknyeon was cut off by the sound of footsteps near them coming from the direction of the fire world. “Sunwoo, we should go.” He turned to look at Hyunjoon one last time. “I’m sorry.”

“Hyung,” Hyunjoon spoke for the first time since being told the news about Sunwoo. “What are you doing?”

“I’m sorry,” Haknyeon repeated, and he and Sunwoo ran, but this time it wasn’t towards the ice world nor the fire world.

They were running along the small stream, which soon turned into a river, which reminded Sunwoo of Sangyeon’s story about there being a full river. The river led the two boys to a small city-like area where the two worlds met. 

Haknyeon turned around to see Sangyeon and Hyunjoon both running towards them. 

“Hyung, let’s go up here,” Sunwoo said, pointing at the top of a tree that had something on top of it, similarly to a tree house. Sunwoo grabbed the hanging ladder and began climbing up. Haknyeon followed him, and once they reached the top, Haknyeon threw the ladder off because the tree had no branches so no one would be able to climb up with them.

Sunwoo looked at Haknyeon, and Haknyeon looked at Sunwoo, the two of them enjoying each other’s presence for a moment before the yells around them got their full attention.

People from nearby gathered around Sangyeon and Hyunjoon, probably getting the gist of what was happening because of Sangyeon and Hyunjoon’s yells. 

The noise was too loud to drown out—everyone was yelling at them to get down from there, to get away from each other, to stop being stupid and young in love. 

“I’m not backing out,” Haknyeon said, and Sunwoo nodded. 

“Me neither. This is what’s best for us…” Sunwoo put his hand out near Haknyeon. He looked up at the older boy as if asking for permission, and Haknyeon nodded with a smile, intertwining his hand with Sunwoo’s, the both of them immediately feeling strong bursts of pain.

10.

They knew they had only ten seconds before they were to die, but they only wanted each other in that moment, no matter what other people had to say.

Sunwoo leaned in and kissed Haknyeon, something he had wanted to do for so long.

9.

“Sunwoo, stop! Get away from him!” Sangyeon yelled, still holding his axe from earlier.

8.

“Haknyeon hyung, get over here right now!” Hyunjoon yelled as well. 

7.

The sound of yelling and screaming rang through their ears. Not only Sangyeon and Hyunjoon, but other ice-borns and fire-borns, too.

6.

Tears streamed down their faces not only because of the pain, but because they knew they were about to die. Sunwoo had always hated his job, but leaving Sangyeon alone to do it all the work was hard, and Haknyeon had always hated living without a purpose, but now that he had one (Sunwoo), he was leaving him.

5.

Sunwoo’s pressure on Haknyeon’s lips decreased for a moment, and he had to hold in a sob from the pain all over him.

4.

“I love you so much,” Sunwoo said, his voice so incredibly weak that Sunwoo crying hurt Haknyeon more than the sensation on his body.

The feeling Sunwoo had always felt near Haknyeon was cold, and the feeling Haknyeon had always felt near Sunwoo was heat, but neither of them had ever felt those feelings before, so it was something their bodies weren’t used to. 

3.

“You’re my whole world, Sunwoo,” Haknyeon choked out. Sunwoo placed both his hands on the sides of Haknyeon’s face.

2.

The pain was too much. The noise around them faded out slowly. “Hyung,” Sunwoo whispered, still against Haknyeon’s lips.

1.

“It’s okay, Sunwoo,” Haknyeon said, wrapping his arms so tightly around Sunwoo that his body was telling him to let go of him, and Sunwoo’s body was practically yelling at him to force his way out of Haknyeon’s arms.

But Sunwoo loved Haknyeon, and Haknyeon loved Sunwoo, and a life without each other hurt more than any other pain.

0.


End file.
